Wire coiler



Jan. 5, 1960 J. F. NELSON 2,919,367

WIRE COILER Filed May 1, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

JOHN F. NELSON HA5 ATTOQ/VE/ J. F. NELSON Jan. 5, 1960 WIRE COILER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 L M F. M J

-IHH HH I: E: 5 HM NLHH I g MN\ NN\ N 4. a hm vm United States Patent WIRE COILER John F. Nelson, Concord, Calif., assignor to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey I Application May 1, 1957, Serial No. 656,461

8 Claims. (Cl. 242-78) tion is particularly adapted for apparatus in which the wire prior to being wound on a spool is deformed or precast to a curvature such that it will not expand out of the coiled shape in which it is wound on a spool.

To facilitate handling, wire is universally packaged by winding on spools and, in order that it may be removed without snarling, it should be level wound in tight layers. At the end of the coiling operation, bands are applied to hold the wire against expansion and to retain its coiled shape. When these retaining bands are removed, resilient expansion is permitted and the coils open up, the extent of opening'movement being in general proportional to the resilience of the wire. Coil opening movement in this manner is objectionable in many industrial operations.

To eliminate coil opening movement of this character, permanent deformation of the wire to a curvature such that it will not expand relative to a spool'on which it is coiled has been proposed. For this purpose, the wire must be deformed to a radius which approximates or is slightly less than that of the coil into which it is to be which is regulated in accordance with variations in the speed of operation of the spool drive. These and related ends of the invention are accomplished in part by providing a hydraulic fluid series circuit comprising a constant volume fluid pump, a variable volume fluid pressure rotary motor for operating the spool drive, and a constant volume fluid pressure motor which includes a reciprocable piston for actuating the traversing guide mechanism.

Further details and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description. In the drawings, there is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention. In this showing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a wire coiler having a drive constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention;

Figure 2 is a partial plan view of the apparatus shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view of a quill drive for imparting rotational and axial movements to a spool and which forms a part of the apparatus shown in Figures 1 and 2; and

Figure'4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a hydraulic system for the fluid motor of the quill drive of Figure 3.

The wire coiler shown in the'drawings is adapted to deform wire to a predetermined curvature and wind it on a spool 1 without removing its preformed curvature. The spool 1 is driven by a shaft 2 which has a detachable coupling 3 at its outer end with the spool 1 and which is supported for rotational and axial movement in a housing 4 in a manner to be described. Two sets of pinch rolls 5 force wire W through a guide tube 6 and wound so that its resilience will be effective to hold it a curved precast tube 7 wherein it is deformed, in a manner also .to be described, to a predetermined set or curvature as it is fed therethrough to the spool 1. The rolls 5 are power driven and supply the power required to pull the wire from a pay-off reel and through sets of straightening rolls or other equipment. As the Wire is delivered from the precast tube 7, it is wound on the spool 1 in a coil of tight contractile layers which will retain its shape without the necessity of retaining bands for this purpose.

As best shown in Figure 3, the shaft 2 has a slide support for axial movement in a quill shaft 8 which is rotatably supported at its end by bearings 9 in the housing 4. The quill shaft 8 is driven by a bevel gear train comprised of a bevel gear 10 which has a keyed connection with the shaft 8 and meshing engagement with to be described, the power required for pulling the wire '7 the-speed of operation of the drive which feeds the wire R to the spool. Similar speed regulation must also be applied to the traverse drive for the guide mechanism which threads the wire onto the spool.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to provide a wire spool drive which will apply a constant tension to the wire being wound and which will automatically adjust its speed of operation according to the rate at which wire is fed to it. A further and related object is to provide a-drive for operating a traversing mechanism for guiding the wire onto the spool with a threading action a bevel gear 11. The gear 11 is driven by a variable volume rotary hydraulic motor 12. For purposes of definition, the term variable volume as applied to the motor 12 means that the quantity of fluid required to rotate it through a single revolution may be varied. It may, for example, be one of a type manufactured underthe trade name hydroilic by the Denison Engineering Company of Columbus, Ohio. Since motors of this type are conventional, the specific structure of the motor 12 need not be and has not been illustrated in the drawings and, for explanatory purposes, it will be sufficient to state generally that it has a plurality of pistons which have a length of travel determined by the angular position of a rotating wobble or cam plate. Adjusting the angular position of the cam plate thus regula'tes the volumetric capacity of the motor and the quantity of fluid required for its rotation. In Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, this control cam plate is designated diagrammatically in broken lines by the numeral 13, and a hand wheel 14 is provided for adjusting its angular position about an axis normal to its axis of rotation.

.A constantvolume pump 15 is operated at a constant speed by an electric motor 16 (see Figure 2) to deliver hydraulic fluid from a reservoir 17 (Figure 4) to the motor 12. The fluid delivered bythe pump 15 .to the motor 12 has a constant pressure which is determined by a pressure relief valve 18 through which fluid in excess of that required to operate the motor 12 is returned to the reservoir 17. The pressure relief valve 18 is preferably a check valve of the spring biased type which opens when the pressure in the supply connection 19 to the motor 12 is above that called for by its biasing spring. Since the fluid supplied to the motor 12 is at a constant pressure determined by the valve 18, a constant torque is applied by the motor 12 to the quill shaft 8 and to the spool 1 mounted on the shaft 2. In this manner a constant tension is applied to the wire moving from the precast tube 7 to the spool 1. This wire tension is independent of the rate of wire feed, and the spool 1 is rotated at a speed which is determined by the rate at which the feed rolls deliver wire through the tubes 6 and 7.

The quill shaft 3 has a keyed connection with the shaft 2 which comprises a key 20 secured to the shaft 2 and a key slot 21 in the quill 8 in which the key 20 is received. The slot 21 has an axial length longer than that of the key 26 to provide for axial movement of the shaft 2 relative to the quill 8.

Axial movement is imparted to the shaft 2 by a fluid pressure constant volume motor 22 which includes a cylinder in which a piston 23 is reciprocable. The piston 23 actuates a piston rod 24- which has its outer end connected to a bracket 25 for transmitting axial movement to the shaft 2. A thrust bearing assembly 26 connects the bracket 25 with the shaft 2 and provides for rotation of the shaft 2 relative to the bracket 25.

Operation of the motor 22 is controlled by a reversing valve 27 which is actuated by a pilot valve 28 when the shaft 2 and the spool mounted thereon are moved to opposite ends of their path of axial movement. The pilot valve 23 is a two-way valve which is operated by a lever 29 movable back and forth between two operating positions. The lever 29 extends through a slot 30 in the end of a control rod 31 which is supported for endwise sliding movement in stationary brackets 32 carried by the housing 4. Axially spaced adjustable stops 33 and 34 have threaded engagement on the rod 31 in positions straddling an arm 35 projecting upwardly from the bracket 25. The arm 35 has an opening 36 through which the portion of the rod 31 between the stops 33 and 34 extends.

in operation, the valve 27 reverses the fluid pressure connections to opposite ends of the motor 22 when its piston 23 and the parts operated thereby move to either end of their respective paths of reciprocating movement. Assuming the piston 23 is moving to the right as viewed in Figure 3, this movement will continue until the bracket arm 35 contacts the stop 34 and moves the rod 31 to the right to actuate the pilot valve 28 by pivoting its operat ing lever 29 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 2. This causes pilot valve 28 to operate the reversing valve 27 to reverse the operation of the motor 22 and the movement of the parts actuated thereby. The bracket arm 35 will then move to the left as viewed in Figure 3 until it contacts the stop 33 and returns the pilot valve 29 to the position shown in Figure 3 for effecting another reversing operation of the valve 27. The positions of the stops 33 and 34 on the rod 31 are adjusted so that the spacing therebetween corresponds to the axial spacing of the spool flanges 38 and 39. In this manner the spool 1 has a traversing movement back and forth relative to the wire feeding tube 7 so that the wire will be wound on the spool 1 in layers. The amount of axial traversing movement relative to the tube 7 for each revolution of the spool 1 is determined by the size of the wire and is controlled by the motor 12 in a manner to be described. While the reversing valve 27 has been described as being operated by the pilot valve 28 which is in the nature of a fluid pressure relay, it will be understood that other types of reversing valves may be used and are contemplated.

As shown in Figure 4, the motor 12 has an exhaust passage 41 which is alternately connected by the reversing valve 27 with opposite ends of the motor 22. In the position shown in Figure 4, the valve 27 connects the passage 41 through a conduit 42 to one end of the cylinder 22 while its other end is connected through a conduit 43 to an exhaust passage 44 that preferably has a conduit connection (not shown) for returning fluid to the reservoir 17. Each operation of the reversing valve 27 is effective to reverse the connections of the conduits and with the passages 41 and 44 to effect a reverse operation of the motor 22.

From the showing of Figure 4, it will be apparent that the conduit 41, reversing valve 27, and conduits 42 and provide a series connection between the motor 12 and motor 22 with respect to the pump 15 and sump 17. In this manner, all of the fluid exhausted from the motor 12 through the passage 41 is used in operating the traversing motor 22. It will thus be apparent that the piston 23 and parts operated thereby will have a fixed lateral movement for each revolution of the spool. This movement is directly proportional to the rotational movement of the motor 12 and may be adjusted according to the diameter of the wire being wound by operating the hand wheel 14 to adjust the angular position of the control cam plate 13. As described above adjustment of the angular position of the cam plate 13 varies the volumetric capacity of the motor 12 and the amount of fluid required to effect a single revolution thereof. Such adjustment does not change the torque developed by the motor or the tension on the wire being drawn since the torque is determined by the pressure of the fluid supplied to the motor 12 under the control of the relief valve 18.

in order that the wire W will not expand relative to the spool after the winding operation is completed, the precast tube 7 must have a radius of curvature sufliciently less than the radius of the wire on the spool that it will impart a permanent set or curvature to the wire which is substantially the same or smaller than the radius of the wire on the spool. The wire W is bent to the curva ture of the tube 7 as it moves therethrough but expands to a larger radius when it emerges therefrom, and this. requires a precast tube having a smaller radius than the radius of the coils on the spool 1 in order to assure a permanent set or curvature of the character required.

fter the wire emerges from the tube 7, it must not be sprung in moving to the spool 1 to an extent such that its permanent set or curvature is changed to a radius larger than the average radius of the wire on the spool. This requires a precast tube 7 having location and relative dimensions substantially as illustrated in Figure 1 wherein the tube 7 is shown located sufliciently close to the Winding spool that the wire will not be unduly stretched in moving from the tube 7 to the spool 1. In addition, the winding tension on the wire should not be greater than is required for the purpose of laying it on the spool, and this requirement is met by provision of a motor 12 which applies a constant torque to the spool 1 and a constant tension to the wire being wound. The rotational speeds of the motor 12 and spool 1 are determined by the rate at which the feed rolls 5 deliver wire through the tubes 6 and 7.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a wire coiler, a spool on which wire is to be wound, feed rolls for feeding wire to said spool, wire guide means arranged between said feed rolls and spool and through which the wire is forced by said feed rolls, sai guide means including means for bending the Wire to a predetermined curvature, means mounting said spool and guide means for traversing movement relative to each other in a direction axially of said spool, a reversible fluid pressure motor including a piston connected with said mounting means for effecting said relative traversing movement, and a variable volume fluid pressure rotary motor for rotating said spool having an exhaust connection with said reversible motor through which fluid is supplied for actuating said reversible motor.

2. In a wire coiler, a spool on which wire is to be wound, feed rolls for feeding wire to said spool, wire guide means arranged between said feed rolls and spool and through which the wire is forced by said feed rolls, said guide means including means for bending the wire to a predetermined curvature, means mounting said spool and guide means for traversing movement relative to each other in a direction axially of said spool, and a hydraulic series connected circuit comprising a fluid pump, a variable volume rotary fluid motor for rotating said spool, and a constant volume fluid pressure reversible motor for imparting said relative traversing movement to said mounting means.

3. In a wire coiler, a spool on which wire is to be wound, feed rolls for feeding wire to said spool, wire guide means arranged between said feed rolls and spool and through which the Wire is forced by said feed rolls, said guide means including means for bending the wire to a predetermined curvature, means mounting said spool and guide means for traversing movement relative to each other in a direction axially of said spool, a reversible fluid pressure motor including a piston connected with said mounting means for effecting said relative traversing movement, a variable volume fluid pressure rotary motor for rotating said spool, a pump, and means including conduits and a reversing valve for connecting said rotary motor and said reversible motor in series circuit with said pump.

4. In a wire coiler, a spool on which wire is to be wound, guide means for delivering wire to said spool, means mounting said spool and guide means for traversing movement relative to each other in a direction axially of said spool, and a hydraulic series circuit comprising a fluid pump, a variable volume rotary fluid motor for rotating said spool, a constant volume fluid pressure reversible motor for imparting said relative traversing movement to said mounting means, and means including conduits and a reversing valve for connecting said rotary motor and said reversible motor in series circuit with said pump.

5. In a wire coiler, a spool on which wire is to be wound, feed rolls for feeding wire to said spool, wire guide means arranged between said feed rolls and spool and through which the wire is forced by said'feed rolls, and drive means mounting said spool for axial traversing movement relative to said guide means comprising a drive shaft for rotating said spool, a quill shaft in which said drive shaft is supported for axial movement, a key connection for transmitting rotary motion from said quill shaft to said drive shaft, said key connection including means permitting axial movement of said drive shaft relative to said quill shaft, a fluid pressure motor for imparting axial movement to said drive shaft, a fluid pressure motor for rotating said quill shaft, a pump, and means connecting said motors in a series circuit with said pump.

6. In a wire coiler, a spool on which wire is to be wound, guide means for delivering wire to said spool, and drive means mounting said spool for axial traversing movement relative to said guide means comprising a drive shaft for rotating said spool, a quill shaft in which said drive shaft is supported for axial movement, a key connection for transmitting rotary motion from said quill shaft to said drive shaft, said key connection including means permitting axial movement of said drive shaft relative to said quill shaft, drive means for rotating said quill shaft, and a reversing motor for imparting axial reciprocating movement to said drive shaft,

7. A traversing drive for wire coilers comprising a spool on which wire is to be wound, a drive shaft for supporting and rotating said spool, a quill shaft in which said drive shaft is supported for axial movement, a key connection for transmitting rotary motion from said quill shaft to said drive shaft, said key connection including means permitting axial movement of said drive shaft relative to said quill shaft, drive means for rotating said quill shaft, and a reversing motor for imparting recipro eating axial movement to said drive shaft.

8. A traversing drive for Wire coilers comprising a spool on which wire is to be wound, a drive shaft for supporting and rotating said spool, a quill shaft in which said drive shaft is supported for axial movement, a key connection for transmitting rotary motion from said quill shaft to said drive shaft, said key connection including means permitting axial movement of said drive shaft relative to said quill shaft, a fluid pressure motor for imparting axial movement to said drive shaft, a fluid pressure motor for rotating said quill shaft, a pump, and means connecting said motors in a series circuit with said pump.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,641,300 Spencer Sept. 6, 1927 1,834,749 Traxel Dec. 1, 1931 2,265,246 Ott Dec. 9, 1941 2,404,368 Esch July 23, 1946 2,425,496 Tyler Aug. 12, 1947 2,656,873 Stephens Oct. 27, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,109,487 France Sept. 28, 1955 

